Staff Writer
In addition to straining peace attempts, sporadic violent clashes between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and government troops have turned into a conflict over revenue from ports, trade, banking, and natural resources, the country’s U.N. envoy warned on Monday.
According to UN Special Representative Hans Grundberg, the struggle for material gain “has become inseparable from the political and military conflict.”
Despite the fact that combat in Yemen has significantly diminished since a cease-fire in April 2022, he claimed that “continued sparks of violence alongside public threats to return to large-scale fighting increase fear and tensions.”
The longest stretch of relative peace since the civil war broke out in 2014, according to Grundberg, has been experienced by Yemenis, but “the situation on the ground remains fragile and challenging.” He cited fighting in five frontline regions, including Hodeida, Yemen’s largest port, and Marib, an oil-rich province in the east that Houthi rebels with Iranian support attempted to conquer in 2021.
The Houthis attacked the internationally recognized government in Sanaa from their northern stronghold, sparking the crisis in Yemen. The following year, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened on behalf of the government, and eventually the conflict developed into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Yemen, already the most impoverished nation in the Arab world, has been ravaged by the conflict, which has led to one of the biggest humanitarian catastrophes ever. There have been more than 150,000 fatalities, including both combatants and civilians.
Hopes for progress in resolving the dispute have grown since the resumption of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in April.
According to Grundberg, even if the cease-fire was not extended when it ran out in October of last year, the decrease in hostilities has made way for real negotiations between the parties to resolve the war. Both parties were asked to take “bold steps” toward peace, he said.
“This means an end to the conflict that promises accountable national and local governance, economic and environmental justice, and guarantees of equal citizenship for all Yemenis, regardless of gender, faith, background, or race,” the speaker stated.
In terms of the economy, Grundberg said that in the southern port city of Aden, which is now home to the internationally recognized government, the value of the Yemeni riyal against the dollar has fallen by more than 25% over the last year. He said that the price of shipping goods has more than doubled as a result of conflict-related road closures.
17.3 million of Yemen’s 21.6 million people, according to Joyce Msuya, the U.N. assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, need assistance. The weakening economy, according to her, is one of the primary causes of the enormous amount of humanitarian needs.
We can only lessen the unbelievable number of people in need by stabilizing the economy, she remarked. Included in that, according to her, is “the long overdue restart of oil exports from government-held areas.”
According to Msuya, only 29% of the $4.3 billion U.N. appeal for Yemen has been financed halfway through the year, and only 40% of the demands are being met by the World Food Program’s effort to feed the seriously malnourished.
She stated that if additional cash is not received by September, WFP “may be forced to cut as many as five million people from food assistance.”
The transfer of 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from the Safer, a rusting tanker moored 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida, was authorized by the Houthis on Monday, according to U.N. humanitarian coordinator David Gressly, who reported the development to the council.
In order to store up to 3 million barrels of oil pumped from the Marib oil resources, the Yemeni government purchased the ship in the 1980s. The tanker was not serviced since 2015 due to the war, and as a result, seawater seeping into the hull caused corrosion that increased the likelihood of sinking and a significant oil spill.
According to Gressly, the tanker has been stabilized since the rescue ship Ndeavor arrived at the Safer site on May 30 so that its oil may be transported. According to him, the tanker Nautica is getting ready to leave Djibouti and will begin transferring oil from the Safer by early next week. According to him, the procedure will last roughly two weeks.
